There are a lot of great silent films that surprisingly for so long ago do not show their age and aren't as creaky. Am not saying anything negative about silent films in general, or trying to generalise if it comes over that way, quite the contrary (appreciate them hugely actually, though some don't hold up as well as others). There are also a lot of great WW1 films that still hold up in emotional power and are of vast historical significance, a strong primary example being 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.

Whether 'The Big Parade' is the best WW1 film there is very up for debate when there are many contenders for that title. For me though, it is definitely up there with the best (certainly of the "anti-war" ones) and still stands as a beautiful and powerful film that surprisingly pulls no punches and doesn't play safe. Wholly deserving of its lauded status, and for anybody that loves silents, war films and classic film (the case with me on all counts) in general 'The Big Parade' is a must watch.

It does start a little slow and some of the humour, especially that from Karl Dane, is overdone.

Everything else is on the money and obliterate any faults. It's beautifully and atmospherically shot, the editing flowing smoothly. Regarding the music, both William Axt and Carl Davis' scores are well worth listening to. With a personal preference for the truly haunting one of Davis. King Vidor's direction is masterful, some of his best. He clearly connected with the subject and does so in a very artistic and human way, the drama hitting hard and not being over-idealised.

Slow start aside, 'The Big Parade' is one powerful emotional wallop of a film. The love story is truly beautiful and the comradeship is similarly poignantly handled and where one particularly cares for the characters and what happens to them. The battle sequences were an achievement back then and are still astonishing now, having a full sense of horror in a pull-no-punches way. As others have said, the parting of the lovers is unforgettable and truly touching. Don't know many that are this moving actually.

Pretty much all the acting is excellent, apart from some over-doing at times with Dane. Especially understated John Gilbert, whose eyes tell so much. Renee Adoree is lovely too, but acting-wise this is Gilbert's film.

All in all, truly fabulous. 9/10

In its second year of existence the newly formed studio of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayern had two big budget items either of which had they flopped would have proved the end for that studio combine. Fortunately for Leo the Lion, Ben-Hur and The Big Parade proved resounding successes at the box office and became cinema classics.

The Big Parade as cinema spectacle does fill the screen in a style that Cecil B. DeMille would have approved. But the accent here is not on heroics, rather on the horror of what was then called the Great War because no one could contemplate another one like it. Watching some of the crowd scenes and battle scenes I saw that The Big Parade set a standard for World War I films. Watch for example the battle scenes in The Fighting 69th and you'll see how much influence The Big Parade had on future films.

John Gilbert is the central character of The Big Parade a rather aimless young man whom his father Hobart Bosworth could use a little discipline in his life. The army is just the thing for him. Usually those who advocate such a course don't anticipate the army ever getting in a real shooting war.

We declared ourselves in on World War I in April of 1917, but few troops saw any action until a year later. We had no real standing army and Woodrow Wilson gave John Pershing one order, keep the American army separate, train it, and then send it into battle as its own entity. So those scenes of idleness where Gilbert develops his romance with Renee Adoree are quite true. The American Army was being trained in the hell that was trench warfare.

The Big Parade is as much a love story as a war story and Gilbert and Adoree were quite the screen couple. This was before Gilbert had done any films with Greta Garbo. The Big Parade proved to be his breakout film and it Renee Adoree her career role on the silent screen as well.

The Big Parade was also a tragedy ridden film. Its stars Gilbert, Adoree, and Karl Dane who played Gilbert's sidekick in the trenches all died before 1940 way too young for all of them.

In those crowd scenes which did include some newsreel footage, my grandmother used to look at them eagerly when she saw them hoping to see my grand uncle in them. Her brother was part of The Big Parade in real life. William Fleischman was drafted at the age of 19 to serve in the American Expeditionary Force and he came back and lived until 1979 and came back in a lot better shape than John Gilbert was in this film.

The Great War was the seminal event of his generation, no one who survived it ever was the same. The song My Buddy was used on the sound track and Uncle Bill had an aversion for that song. He said that in the trenches you did not worry about your buddy, in fact better it was him that was hit than you. Uncle Bill also developed a lifelong aversion to peaches as well. That was the main thing he remembers being given in his rations and after the war couldn't look at a canned peach for the rest of his life.

Despite My Buddy on the soundtrack and that was added subsequently, King Vidor directed his masterpiece in The Big Parade. Although he directed for a little more than 30 years after this, Vidor never equaled The Big Parade. And to dough boy William Fleischman, part of The Big Parade this review is dedicated.

I noticed that some reviews referred to this as the greatest war film ever or the greatest silent or the greatest silent. Well, while this is very debatable. You could easily argue that WINGS (1927), ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) or WESTFRONT 1918 (1930) were all possibly better WWI films--but doing so does all the films a disservice. After all, can't they all be great films and who says any one of these (or another) is the greatest? And, each is amazing in its own way. Plus, how can you compare a silent to a sound film? And what about films about other wars? And what about non-war silent films?

While I could see some flaws in THE BIG PARADE, you can't really compare it to films made later (technically they were so different and the style of storytelling changed a lot over the years). This film earns a 10 relative to other films of the day--other films made about 1925 aren't any better. The film has many pluses--large and rather realistic battles that are very emotionally draining, good acting by the lead (John Gilbert's performance was relatively subdued and very effective) and the story was very touching--such as when the hero's mother sees him towards the end of the film. Sure, there are a few minuses (the love between Gilbert and Renée Adorée seemed too shallow and brief to be so strong) but they are so outweighed by the strengths that they seem petty to dwell on in this review.

Compelling and very watchable over 80 years later--this is one of the great silents.